


Dying Embers

by Arones



Category: Original Work
Genre: Adventure, Drama, F/F, Firefighters, Humor, Supernatural - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-12-03
Updated: 2013-02-12
Packaged: 2017-11-20 03:38:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/580898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arones/pseuds/Arones
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Addison has set about making a new life for herself. She's just moved to Norwich, is starting a new job as Battalion Chief of Station Seven, and is ready for a new, clean start. On her first day at the "office," she finds out that she's already made a huge blunder of a mistake.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Prologue

She needed to pry her eyes open. This required more effort than necessary. She worked her mucus covered lids apart. She felt the pleasant pop of her lashes separating. She looked around. Blinking rapidly, she moistened her eyes. Mentally, she knew she was looking around. Her eyes moved from side to side. She felt her eyeballs pivoting in the respective sockets. Yet, everything looked the same. Dark. Black. Nothing. 

No memory. No hints. No clue to her location. She panicked. Her heart pounded: bam, bam, bam. She tried to slow the beats: beat, beat, beat. The agreement with her body broke. Her heart and adrenaline weren’t supposed to kick-in this fast. Calm needed to reign until hours after the event. She took a breath. The air sucked into her lungs nauseated her. 

The air stopped short in her lungs. She choked. She coughed. She squeezed her fingernails into her palm. Her body stopped rocking from the force of hacking. She needed oxygen and air. She craved it. Her lips parted. Her head was thrown back into the dirt. A strand of hair clung to her cheek. She didn’t dare raise a hand to brush it aside. She didn’t move.

Her heart beat eased. She remained on her back. She knew she should probably take stock of everything. Mentally running through her body from her head to her toes, thinking about how each part of her anatomy felt—she needed to do this. She didn’t. Her eyes remained open and on the ceiling, or at least she assumed she stared at the ceiling. Her eyes hurt. The muscles in the backs of her sockets ached, and she had a hard time keeping her lids open. She had to remind herself that she needed to keep looking up above her at all costs. To close her eyes would be a death sentence.

Air flew through her nose and down to her lungs. Particles of dirt lodged on the sides of her throat. They clung, staying inside her body. Swallowing felt like drinking sand. She started to hack again. Her diaphragm violently surged upward. Her chest thrust forward. Air came out in short bursts. She was floored by how long it lasted. She couldn’t stop. Her head started to spin. She couldn’t figure out where her toes were. She floated.

A stream of fiery pain licked up from her toes. The pain grasped hold of her ankle. Consumed inch by simmering inch. She squirmed. She tried to get away. She couldn’t. She needed to move. She had no other choice. Pain tried to grab her. She had to leave. Her insides tried to crawl away. Her guts felt as though they left her form behind. Her body cringed from the agony. A hollow shell of what she had been was the only thing left. 

She lost feeling. Her limbs numbed. The blackness before could not compare to the darkness that began to consume her. Little hexagonal shapes took over her vision in mass quantity. More and more came, tearing through her vision, ripping it apart at the seams. Where were they coming from? Ants—they looked like ants crawling all over. She couldn’t shake them. She couldn’t make them go away.

A short breath before a long one. She was off her rhythm. Her balance—gone. She rolled as if on a ship out in a hurricane. Her body would not stop moving. Yet, she knew she lay in stillness. She rolled, shoulder over shoulder, from one end of the ship to the next. Then movement sent back to her original position. The point came where she couldn’t figure out which way was up. She didn’t know where the ground was. She didn’t know what direction she faced. No grasp on reality. No idea of where she lay. No idea of who she was. She started to give up. She knew nothing mattered.

Confused. Head spinning. Dizzy circles. Her mind refused to focus. She couldn’t think long enough. She needed to start to unravel her predicament. Her breathing increased. No way to win. Her nails dug into the dirt below. She mind rose higher and higher: the click, click, click of the track as it pulled her up, up, up. The pinnacle in sight. The point where she would go down, down, down, and there would be nothing to help her. Nothing that would be able to stop her. Nothing. 

Holding her breath, she waited. The dizziness became greater. The rolling more violent. The air in her chest stopped moving. She waited. 

Then, she fell.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter One

Addison opened the door to her truck and breathed in the fresh air. She couldn’t help but enjoy the feeling of the clean mountain breeze as it brushed against her warmed skin. Autumn had taken hold in Norwich, and she couldn’t have asked for a better season to move. Shutting the door, she went into the leasing office to take possession of her one bedroom, hardly anything square foot apartment, and the new life that awaited her. 

“Hello,” the quiet and happy voice cooed from behind a large desk in the back of the room. 

Addison made her way forward, figuring that she would have to in order to sign her lease. The woman didn’t seem as if she was going to come out to her.

“Hi,” she called back. 

A nerve jumped in her stomach, and she had to tamp it back down as the young woman peeked around the desk. 

“I’m Addison Lee. I’m here to sign my lease?” She said it like an inquiry, even though there was no question. 

“Right! Welcome.” 

The young woman smiled, her dark eyes bright and her olive skin pulled into a smile. 

“I’m June—the property manager.” 

She held her hand out. Addison took it in a firm, but soft shake. 

“It’s nice to meet you,” she replied.

The least fun part about moving for Addison—signing the lease. She hated signing all the paperwork and answering the hundreds of questions thrown in her direction. She really disliked all the small talk. June slid back around the desk with a long manila folder in front of her. Addison watched as she opened it and slipped out two bundles of paperwork. 

“One copy is yours, and one stays in the office. The one we’ll sign stays in the office.”

“All right,” Addison answered and checked her watch. She had sped to get there first and wondered how long the caboose of her train would take in catching up. 

June smiled and pulled out two pens before turning the legal sized paper so Addison could read it correctly. 

“Now, while we go through this, if you have any questions shout them out. It’s a lot of information, and I tend to like to get through it as quickly as possible.”

“Yeah, no problem.”

They started with the top. Names and numbers flew around Addison’s head, and she started to lose track by page three. She never felt well suited for paperwork—she never enjoyed it. Taking a deep breath as she initialed the bottom of the page, she started in on the pages again. She was going to do this well. She wanted to do it well. Addison intended to take on a new job, and that job required her to understand the ins and outs of paperwork, contracts, and legalities. Whether she liked to do paperwork or not, she had to complete it on time and well. Bolstering herself, Addison stared back down at the white paper with tiny black words and focused on everything that June said. 

Making it to the final page, Addison let out a breath and signed her full name. She dated it, and she slid it back across the desk toward June with a large grin on her face. She was done.

“Now, we have the addendums.”

Addison would have groaned out loud if she had thought it proper. She glanced at her watch again and nodded. Her demeanor deflated, and she reached forward to grab hold of the second stack of papers. The addendums. Listening to June prattle on about mold and mildew, animals, satellite dishes—which weren’t allowed—and how all her utilities were going to be metered and billed, she inwardly cringed. She signed each page with her full name and initialed in a few places.

She stopped breathing when the door slammed open. She saw a blonde man slamming her front door and charging up the stairs. He entered her room. Angry spread out from him in waves. She shuddered as she shook the image from her mind. The jackass was gone. She didn’t have to worry about him coming in. Her eyes lifted to see the form of her brother filling the door.

“Honey, you’re home!”

Slowly turning in her chair to glare at the owner of the overly pleasant and chipper voice, Addison huffed. 

“Good morning, Rob. Glad to see you made it, Rob. Couldn’t have driven a little faster, could you Rob?” Her tone sounded passive aggressive to even her own ears, but she didn’t care in the moment.

Once Rob started, he never stopped. His words started to flit over to Addison, and she took a breath, bolstering herself for the long haul.

“For you, darling? Never. I wanted all your precious possessions in the back of that monster of a truck with such a wide and pretty ass to be safe and unharmed upon our arrival. You know I ride it rough, and I was just trying to preserve it until the end. So, are you done yet? I’ve been waiting outside for like an hour.”

“Not quite,” June answered and gave him a little smile that was meant to set him at ease and show him her annoyance at the same time.   
Addison ducked her chin to hide the smirk and stifle the chuckle. Rob never understood when he was being silently chided. She had worked for years, trying to teach him the signs, but he never grasped the concept.

Ignoring the man, June laid out a few more papers for Addison to sign before stuffing them all back into the pristine manila folder. 

“There, now we’re all done with the lease.”

“What else is there?” Addison spoke before she could think. Her tone was tinged with shock and annoyance, even though she hadn’t meant it to come off that way. 

June gave her the sweetest smile Addison could imagine coming from the woman. Her eyes were soft and crinkled at the corners, and the tight curls of her hair shook when her head tilted. 

“We have to do an inspection of the property, there are the community policies you have to read and sign, and I give you the keys. Then, you are done with me after you give me your first month’s rent. I promise after all that you can start to move items into the apartment.”   
She reached out and pressed a hand to Addison’s arm before her heels clicked against the floor.

June moved to the other side of the room. Addison twisted in her chair, Rob moving away from her as she did so, to watch June. The young manager took the keys around her wrist, that Addison had failed to notice until that point, and unlocked a small box hanging against the wall. She slipped two key rings from a hook and came back. Her mind was distracted with the way June’s body moved: the soft sway of her hips and the tense muscles in her calves.

“Ready?”

“Yeah.” 

Addison cleared her throat and stood up. She made for the French door at the front of the office while her cheeks blushed red. Rob was ahead of her, and when she glanced back, she saw June grip a pen and clipboard. 

“We’re really not done with paperwork?”

“Nope, but I promise that this is the only time you’ll ever have to do this much of it.” She smiled. “Renewing is certainly far easier than signing an entire new lease. And I do hope you renew.” 

June’s head turned down, and she had a flirtatious look in her eye that took Addison off-guard. Addison’s stomach clenched, and she quickly left the room, hoping the breeze outside would help settle her racing heart.

“Good marketing,” Rob commented in his usual manner before trailing ahead to where he assumed the apartment Addison would be living in was located. Addison followed June who walked rightly in the opposite direction than Rob had. Shaking her head, she ignored him, figuring he would catch up when he smartened up a bit and realized his mistake.

Addison and June reached the apartment, the latter unlocking and swinging the door open. Addison was hit with the smell of fresh paint, chemicals for cleaning, and something else that she couldn’t quite place. Wrinkling her nose behind June’s back, Addison peeked her head around the corner. The apartment was simple. She walked in; she located the dining room on her right and on her left the living room. The kitchen had a bar, but the cupboards came down so low that there only a foot between the top of the counter and the bottom of the cabinet remained. Addison would have walked over to run her fingers against the material, but she would prefer to do that without June being there.

The woman started again, and Addison was forced to listen. Twenty minutes later, she grew frustrated. She wanted to move everything in and be done with the whole relocation. Letting out a deep breath, Addison jumped when the door slammed open with a loud bang. Luckily, no memory of the jackass surfaced.

“So, this is where you ran off to. I’m not that much a bore that your poor brother can’t hang out with you after I drove halfway across the country with all of your stuff in the ass of the truck, now am I?” 

Addison ignored him. Rob was verbose and a complainer; she knew that after years of patiently listening to him whine. She would let him ramble until it annoyed her again, and ignoring him was far easier than becoming irritated.

“Because really, if I was such a bore, I would expect you to pay a bit more attention to me. You know, make me up so I sounded nicer, had more interesting things to say.” 

Rob started to walk around the tiny apartment and toed the carpet carefully. 

“Make it so that pretty girls will like me,” he continued with barely a pause. He gave June a goofy grin and a huge, faux wink before wrinkling his nose at the carpet. 

He turned to Addison. “I can fix that. So, where’s all the stuff? Aren’t you supposed to be moving in and not just staring at the walls, thinking everything is going to miraculously find its way inside these raggedy walls? No offence,” he said the last bit to June with a hand in the air defensively. 

“None taken.” June shook her head, the dark, black curls jingling against her face, ears, and shoulders. 

Addison was entranced with the way that they bounced and brushed across her shoulders. Temptation gripped her, and she wanted to reach out and pull on a tendril, letting it rebound back up. She was knocked out of her trance when June spoke. 

“This is an older property, so we make do with what we have.” June cocked her head to the side, and the stare down between her and Rob began.

Addison knew that June would easily win. Rob didn’t have the attention span of a catfish or a kitten high on cat nip. No way would he would win. Sure enough, and true to his style, Rob turned to Addison in under thirty seconds. 

“Well?”

“Well, what? I’m pretty sure that I still have some paperwork to finish up then you can be the big macho man that we all know you are, and you can start hefting those oh so heavy boxes up the stairs.” Her eyebrows rose, and her green eyes twinkled with humor. 

“Funny. So, funny, Addy, hit your brother while he’s down.” 

He pressed a hand over his heart and leaned back on his heels. 

“I think that I’m mortally wounded this time.”

Addison rolled her eyes.

“No, I’m serious. Mortally wounded.”

“I’m sure.” She felt relaxed when they bantered playfully. She turned back to June. “You can ignore him, we all do. He’s used to it by now.”

The woman smiled, the corners of her eyes crinkled, and she moved into the kitchen. 

“You just have two more papers to sign.” 

She laid them out on the counter and set the pen next to Addison’s hand. “Just here and here. The first one is saying that we inspected the apartment and you have found nothing extraordinarily wrong, a.k.a. general maintenance issues aside. This second one is stating that you will read the community policies and abide by them.”

Addison nodded and signed the two forms. She was given another long form that she would fill out and return within forty-eight hours. She scanned the paper and didn’t notice June looking at her until the woman set a hand on hers. 

“Well then, here you are.” June held out a small key ring with three keys slipped onto it. 

Addison nodded in response to everything that June added on. As if she hadn’t spouted enough information in the last two hours about leasing, living there, and maintenance practices. She grinned when June left, shutting the door behind her. Rob emerged from the bedroom, where he had disappeared into. Addison leaned against the counter, two hands behind her to prop her up, and stared at her brother with a sly grin gracing her face. 

“So?” she asked.

“I like it.”

“You like it?” She teased him.

“Yeah, I like it. It’s a little drab, needs some decoration. God knows this carpet is awful. The walls need a new color, but at least they’re not white. The toilet makes a funny noise when flushing it, and you have to flip the handle up. Might want to tell maintenance about it.”

“Rob.”

“You need a shower curtain, which we didn’t bring. I have no idea what made you think that both a love seat and a three piece couch were going to fit in here.”

“Rob!”

“You’re going to need a dining room table, which you forgot to pack. And we need to do something about the sticky kitchen floor.”

“The floor is not sticky.” 

Her jaw dropped as she looked at him and moved the toe of her tennis shoe around to feel for whatever might be stuck to the brown and tan linoleum. 

Rob laughed hard. He gripped his stomach and bent doubled over. She pouted her lips and glared. 

“Every time, Addy! It gets you every freakin’ time!” 

He gasped for a breath and glanced at her before starting to laugh again.

Addison joined in before long. 

“You’re such an ass, Rob.” 

She pushed on his shoulder, and he fell into the cabinet. 

“Ouch!”

“Yup, an ass.” 

Stalking out the front door, Addison moved down to where she had parked her truck. The next few hours were not going to be fun. She was on the second floor, and the stairs had a skinny and sharp turn in them. The staircase was also steep; she noted it as she walked down them. She would have to help Rob with all large furniture. Moving her vehicle closer to the apartment, she backed into the space directly in front of the stairs. 

###

Addison lost track of how many times she went up and down those steps. She couldn’t count the number of times, ways, or things she carried, but she did know that there were twelve steps to each flight and two flights. Letting out a breath, she plopped down onto her couch and reclined against the arm rest. Her neck gently cradled, her muscles begged to be put out of their misery. Turning slightly, she glared at Rob. 

“Tell me again why I wanted to move.”

“You wanted a new start.” 

He lifted her feet and sat, pressing her calves over his thighs. 

“You wanted a place where no one knew you, where no one knew about you, where no one could find you. You wanted to be done with the life you were done with, and you wanted to start with a new one.” 

He let the silence linger. 

Addison twiddled her thumbs back and forth, and her toes pointed straight out to stretch the muscles in her legs. 

“Do you think it was wrong of me?” 

When Rob looked over, she was biting her lip and not daring to look up at him. 

“BattyAddy, you are doing exactly what you need to do, and anyone who says you aren’t needs to learn a thing or two before speaking.”

“BattyAddy?” 

Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. 

“You haven’t called me that since I was ten years old.”

Rob shrugged. 

“It seemed appropriate.” 

He tapped her leg. When she didn’t move, he tapped it again. 

“Addy.”

“What?”

“It’s time to get some food. I’m starved.”

“Pizza.”

“Chinese.”

“Rob . . . I want pizza.” 

She still didn’t move her legs, thus keeping him locked down on the couch. 

“Well, I want Chinese, and if I don’t get Chinese I’m not going to install your cable box and internet for you.”

“I’m perfectly capable of doing that on my own!” she shot back to him.

“We’ll see.” 

Lifting her legs, he swished them off the cushions and himself, allowing space to stand. 

“Come on, BattyAddy.” 

He reached a hand out for her and tugged her to stand. 

“I’m buying.”

“That means Chinese.” She pouted.

“It does.”

###

Night fell just as they made it back to the apartment with food in hand. The sky streaked with gray and light as the sun set over the west mountains. Addison opened the blinds as far as they could go, and she stared out at them. She gave up on the chopsticks and used one of the plastic forks the restaurant gave them. Shoving a mouthful of fried rice between her lips, she savored the flavor and oil as they mixed on her taste buds. 

“I think I picked a good place.” 

Addison slipped another piece of chicken into her mouth and reclined onto the couch.

“I think that next time you move, since you work at a fire station of all places, you should have those big burly men heft your stuff for you.”   
Rob pouted and complained. 

Rolling her eyes, she turned to look at him. “First of all, I don’t work there yet.”

“Yes, you do.”

“I might have signed the paper work, but I don’t actually know anyone there. Secondly, why would I ask favors from people I barely know when I know that my baby brother, who just loves and adores me, will help me with anything I ask?”

“Flattery won’t work.”

“I think it’s working marvelously.” 

She took another bite of chicken and smiled at him. She waited for the small quirk of his lips upward to inform her that she had done right. For him to tell her that she had taken it far enough and yet not too far. As soon as his eyes flicked to her face with his lips upturned, and she had won. 

“See? It worked.”

“It did, but only this time.” 

He took a few more bites and remained quiet. Rob was quiet for a rare moment. 

“When are the cable guys coming?” he asked, his cheeks full of food.

“After you leave.”

“But BattyAddy!” he whined, and she ignored him.

“Nope, after you leave. I remember the last time and you hovering all around them.” 

She made a motion with her hand in a circle, dropping a grain of rice onto the floor in the process. Both disregarded it. 

“You made them so nervous with all your prattling distractions that they messed it up. Either that or you made them so annoyed that they screwed it up on purpose. I like to think it’s the former though, just to give you the benefit of the doubt.”

Rob scoffed. He did it so rarely to her that it was mildly shocking. Her head snapped to him, and he gave her a grin. 

“They were idiots, and you know it. They couldn’t have done that work ever.”

Addison rolled her eyes and continued eating. She decided not to go any further into the conversation; it would never end if she did. Taking a few more bites of her dinner, she let the silence wash over them like a pleasant breeze on the wind. Silence was rare where she had been living. 

Giving voice to such a thought, she said, “I think I like it better here than Chicago already.”

“That’s because the jackass isn’t here.”

“Really, Rob?” 

All the energy in her body was sucked from her in a giant whoosh. Setting her food to the side, she stood up and left him alone. She was beyond tired of the snide comments about her ex and the way they popped up seemingly every hour. If it wasn’t for the jackass, she wouldn’t be moving. If the jackass wasn’t a jackass, she would still be at her old job. Addison was through with such conversations. She was supposed to be starting new. Moving into the bedroom, she fumbled through a few suitcases until she found a fitted sheet. 

Paying no mind to her brother, who had followed her and was leaning against the doorframe, she threw the sheet onto the bed and started tucking it in. Anything would do on the mattress so long as she could sleep on it within the hour. 

“Addy,” he called her name softly as she pushed the last elastic corner over the edge of the bed.

Standing straight, Addison walked to the corner of the room, where she knew her blankets were. Holding onto an edge, she threw her hands up, letting the material flutter down on top. Licking her suddenly dry lips, she turned toward the door, but refused to make eye contact with her brother.

“Addy.”

Walking to the closet, Addison gripped the bag she packed specifically for Rob and shoved it into his arms before stalking to the bathroom. Slamming the door shut, she leaned against the wood. The break-up with her ex was never going to end. Gritting her teeth, she ripped into one of the four boxes in the tiny room. There had to be towels in at least one of them, because if she had to go back out into the hall she was going to break down. She wouldn’t be able to handle it. 

She shut the lid to the first box and started in on the second. 

“Asshole for a brother is what I have,” she muttered under her breath. The term might have been adequate, but it didn’t mean that she needed to be reminded of his problem with spouting whatever came off the top of his head every day. Nobody had liked the jackass; that had been clear from the start of their relationship. Huffing a breath, she gave up on the second box and started on the third. Her wrist came up to her face, and she brushed it against her cheek, washing away the salty drops. 

“It never ends.” 

She ripped the flap open and three quarters of the way off the box as she tried to get inside. 

“Where the hell are the towels?” she growled in an attempt to remain quiet. 

She let anger have its way with her. Shoving the top of the box down, she moved to the final cardboard container. As she reached for it, she heard the soft knock on the door. Gripping the handle, she wrenched it open. 

“What!?”

Rob stood before her, head bowed, eyes downcast, with two towels in his hands. 

“I thought you might want these.” 

Her mouth opened and closed. She gripped the fluffy cotton tightly after taking it from him, cradling the material to her chest. Her eyes started to water. Praying and hoping that the tears wouldn’t surge forward, Addison stood as still as possible. Maybe if she didn’t move, no one would notice. Maybe if she stopped time by ignoring it, then Rob would have no idea that she was about to break. The jackass should not still be able to affect her. Her cheeks reddened at the thought.

Giving in, she swallowed hard. 

“Thank you.” She quietly spoke, her voice barely above a whisper. 

Rob ignored her silent call for privacy and wrapped a long arm around her shoulders, tugging her into his body. She stumbled forward into his chest and sniffled. Her shoulders were tense, and she felt the last dregs of energy she had used to keep her back rigid and straight. She didn’t want to give in. She took another deep breath, the air sticking in her throat as she tried to release it. 

Addison started to sob.

Her body jerked, and she swayed into him. The majority of her weight rested against Rob’s chest, and she buried her face into his shoulder. Dropping the towels to the floor, she fisted her hands behind his back. She didn’t want to move. Had he asked two seconds before, she would have shoved him off and ran for the mountains just to get away from the stark reminder of her failed relationship. Now that the emotions were flowing freely through her veins, now that she was sobbing against her brother, she couldn’t have thought about being elsewhere. 

They stood like that for a good twenty minutes. Rob ran a hand through her hair, the brown locks twisted around his fingers and tangled as he reached the ends. He tugged his hands through and did it again and again. When Addison pressed two palms flat against his chest and pushed back, he released her after pressing a quick kiss to the crown of her head. 

“You’re an asshole,” she muttered, her face still buried in the sweatshirt he wore.

“Yup, but I’m a loving asshole.”

She stepped back and brushed her fingers under her eyes. 

“I’m going to take a shower.” 

Pointing her thumbs over her shoulder toward the small shower behind her, Addison retreated another step.

Rob sneered. “That shower was not made for people of my stature.”

That earned him a quick grin. Addison replied, “Well, it’s a good thing you won’t be here long.” 

She pushed at his shoulders until he was far enough out the door that she could shut it. Moving to the sink, she did a double take and reached for the small lock, flipping it. Too many times the door had burst inward while she was stood naked at the sink; the jackass barging in on her unwelcomed. Addison shivered at the memories, and the cold look he always gave her before locking the door behind him.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Two

The next day arrived and only a few more boxes remained, needing to be unpacked.  The entire night passed into day, and almost everything was out of cardboard confines.  The kitchen was in order: plates, bowls, forks, knives, baking pans, skillets, pots, and some dry food pressed neatly into the kitchen cupboards.  Addison ripped open one of the last boxes and started to set books upon books onto the shelves that graced her living room.  She had built them while Rob “set-up” her bathroom.  The process took him four times as long as it took her, and she had great suspicions that he had tried to procrastinate any more organization.

Rob came out of her bedroom and flopped onto the couch, his legs bouncing as he landed.  Addison leaned back into him and sorted through her DVD’s, putting them in order.

“Whatcha doin’?”

“Putting away my movies, what does it look like I’m doing?” 

She slipped a handful of plastic cases onto the brown shelf and reached for more.

“I’m bored.”

“Uh huh.” 

Gliding the movie on top below the others before sliding them in, she waited for him to continue his whining. Luckily, the movies had stayed mostly in order from her last move.  Only a few managed to get out of position, which made her job far easier than it could have been. 

“Addy…” he whined again. 

Addison rolled her eyes and reached for more DVD’s, saying, “You do realize that voice hasn’t worked on me since I was ten.”

“You’re kidding, right?” 

He leaned forward. 

“It worked until you were done with university.  Which, I want to add, was only a few years ago.  All I have to do is use that voice and snap!” He snapped his fingers.  “You come running with whatever it is I want.”

“And what do you want?”

“Huh?”

Addison turned to fully face him.  “You said that you use that voice and I coming running with what you want.  Well, you used the voice, so what do you want?”

“Uhh…”

“A shell-shocked and silent Rob?  I do believe it’s one for the record books.”  Addison turned back and placed the last of the movies on the shelf. 

“Shut up!”  He used the tone again.

Addison giggled and pushed her body up until she stood.  “And what is it that SobbyRobby wants?  Maybe if he is a good boy tonight he’ll get an extra big hug from his big and fabulous sis before he leaves.” 

She pushed her lower lip out until the wet skin showed and wrinkled her brow. 

“You’re a jerk.”

“And you’re needy, but we’re beyond that.”

 She held hands out for him, and he reached up.  Pulling with her full body weight, Addison pulled him to stand. 

She sighed.  “I want pizza for dinner, tonight.  Especially since I couldn’t have it last night.”

“Let’s go out.”

“Out?”  Her voice had gone from belittling to flat.  “You want to go out?  I’m exhausted, Rob, why would I want to go out?”

“Let’s go out, Addy.” 

She groaned and headed for the kitchen.  A phone book sat in the corner of the counter when they arrived, and she reached for it.  Gripping the yellow pages firming, she flipped to the thin paper, reaching the pizza section. 

“I’m tired, I’m grumpy, I’m hungry, I’m dirty.  I do NOT want to go out.”

Stalking up behind her, Rob pulled the phone book from her fingers and plucked her phone from her back pocket.  “We’re going out.  Go shower.”

“I don’t like it when you get demanding.” 

She rolled her eyes and leaned against the counter in protest. 

“What do I get if I go out tonight?”

“A happy brother?”

She rolled her eyes again.  “A non-whining brother?”

“Really?”  He raised one brow and gave her a cocky grin.

Addison laughed and shook her head.  “You’re right.  What was I thinking?  You wouldn’t be you without the pounds and  
pounds of whine that insists on spewing from between your lips.” 

“You paint a pretty picture, Addison.”

She continued, ignoring him, “Why do you want to go out?”

“Because I want to know that you’re going to have fun after I leave.  And I want to know that you’re going to know where to go to have said fun, most importantly.  Maybe you can meet someone to hang out with.”

“I’m not going on a date.”

“Who said anything about a date?”

A pause and silence took over the room.  Addison gauged how truthful he was and if he had any hidden motivations.  Finding none, she nodded her head.  

“Fine.” 

Shrugging, she started for the door and her jacket. 

“But you are buying, and I request no limit in my spending.”

“Agreed,” Rob answered and smiled.

He followed her and reached for his own jacket.  A chill burst over them as they stepped out onto the porch. 

“You should put a chair out here,” he commented.

“When am I going to sit in a chair?  I’m starting a new job, and I’m fairly certain it is more than forty hours a week.  When will I even have the time to contemplate such an act?” 

She took the steps down two by two until she made it to the last few.  Tripping over her own foot, Addison reached out and gripped the railing to try and catch herself.  Rob reached forward and fisted the back of her jacket, pulling back with his body.  Her knee touched the ground just before her palm skidded onto the asphalt. 

Hissing through her teeth, she rolled onto her bottom and stared at her hand. 

“Damn it!”  Brushing the bits of gravel from her skin, she looked over the abrasions on the skin. 

“How bad?” 

Rob bent down and took her hand in his.  Running his fingers smoothly over the injury, he looked carefully. 

“It’s not too bad,” he started.

“It hurts like a—“

“Addison!”

“Rob!” she shot back at him and looked down at her knee.  “Great, my knee is bleeding.  All because you had to go out tonight.”

“Can’t blame your klutziness on me, sister.  This one is all on you.”

“It’s your fault, Rob.  Don’t try and get out of this.  It’s not going to happen.”  She rolled up her pant leg to survey the damage. 

“It stings.” Her pitch moved higher as she spoke, and her lips formed into a pout.

Rob smirked at her.  “Who’s whining now?”

“Don’t start with me.”  When she glanced up there were tears in her eyes.  “It hurts.” 

“You are such a wimp sometimes.” 

He reached under her armpits and pulled her to stand.  Brushing off her jackets, he wiped his thumbs under her eyes and straightened her shoulders. 

“But only sometimes, because other times you are one of the strongest women that I know.”

“One of?”

“Well, mom was a bit stronger than you.”

“Can’t argue with you there.” 

She turned when she heard heels clicking on the ground.  The sound came closer.  Addison pressed one hand flat against the other and focused on the burning that started to bleed through her nerves.  She tried to ignore the burning heat that rose in her cheeks from embarrassment. 

“Oh my god!  Are you okay?” June spoke rapidly and stopped just in front of them.  She took Addison’s hand in hers and checked over everything that she could see. 

“It doesn’t look too bad.”

“No, it just stings a bit.”  Addison risked a glance over June’s head to Rob, who smirked in response. 

“I saw you fall.”

“I didn’t fall,” Addison mumbled back, her cheeks burning with more fire.

“She tripped, but I caught her.” 

Rob puffed his chest out and locked his green eyes onto June.  He was trying to impress her.  Addison snorted, but otherwise kept her mouth closed.  She didn’t want to encourage any smart remarks from her brother. 

“She was running down the stairs, yes, I said running, like a pre-teen after a love gone awry.  It was so precious.”  He smiled and took hold of June’s arm.

Addison rolled her eyes, realizing that he was hitting on the poor woman. 

He continued, “She was running, and she tripped over her own feet.  They’re so tiny, you see, so she often forgets that she has to take bigger steps in order to make up for it.  So, she tripped.  She didn’t fall.”

June ignored him and turned back to Addison.  “Are you really all right?  I know the stairs are steep, unfortunately we haven’t been able to replace them yet.”

“Replace?” Addison said.

June shrugged.  “We’re trying.  Okay, well I’m trying.  I just saw you stumble, and I wanted to be sure that everything was okay.” 

June chose another word, which made Addison grateful.  Any word other than fall was far less embarrassing in her opinion.  She wasn’t a clumsy person, which meant she felt like an idiot, standing with a skinned palm and a bleeding knee. 

“I’m really fine, just a tumble.  Won’t be the first time and I’m sure it won’t be the last.”

“I can attest to that!” Rob piped up.

Giggling, June released Addison’s hand and took a step back.  She smiled and lowered her lashes coyly.  “Is everything in the apartment all right?  Everything works okay?”

“Yeah,” Addison answered.

“Actually, I have a problem,” Rob butted into the conversation.

Addison murmured, “When don’t you?”

“The shower head was not built for tall people.  Now, I’m not that tall, see.”  He moved to stand behind June and press his hands against her shoulders. “I’m only a foot or so taller than you, and I think I hit my head ten times in the shower this morning. I think I bruised my skull.” 

He stepped beside his sister again. 

Addison started to shove at her brother and move him toward the truck.  “Stop annoying her, Rob.”

June opened her mouth to protest.

Responding quickly, Addison said, “Everything is wonderful in the apartment.  Thank you.  I probably won’t be around much in the next coming weeks.  I’m starting my new job in a few days.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah,” Addison answered.  Placing her hands in her pockets, Addison rocked back on her heels.  Her eyes scanned up and down June’s form, appraising her.  She had slight curves that worked well with the dress she wore.  Addison licked her lips unconsciously. 

“So, you’re going out?” June wisely chose to change the subject. 

Addison nodded and glanced to Rob.  “Yeah, we’re going out, to a bar I think.”

“You should try downtown.  There are some great bars there.” 

She took a deep breath and shifted her weight on her feet.  Butterflies ran through her stomach as she locked eyes with June for a quick moment.  “I think Rob had a place in mind.”

“I did?”

“Didn’t you?”

“I was just going to drive around.”  He started laughing when she sighed and rolled her eyes.  “I’m kidding! Yeesh!  Yes, I have a place in mind.”

“Well, come along then, I’m hungry and since I can’t have pizza, I want food and beer.” 

She knew she was getting testy, but she didn’t care in that moment.  Lack of food often made her grouchy, something Rob should have known.

“Well, I’ll let you go.  Have a good time and drink a beer for me.”  June smiled and gracefully bowed out, leaving them behind. 

Addison’s eyes remained glued to the retreating figure.  Rob pushed her until she started to move toward the truck.  She hit the electronic lock and opened the door.  She shook her head.  Dating the apartment manager was not an option.  She felt good, knowing that she was back on track after her most recent break-up.  She felt emotionally stable enough to think about a relationship, which added to her ease.

Sticking the key in the engine and turning her wrist, Addison started the engine.  The machine roared to life; her eyes tracked the progress of her brother as he made around the front of the vehicle and tried to open the door.

The grin on her lips presented a priceless moment.

He pulled the handle and stepped back.  Taking a deep breath, he shook his head. 

Calling through the closed window to her, he said, “Come on, Addy, this stopped being funny when you were sixteen and green.”

“Oh, it so did not.” 

She reached over and flicked the lock.  The sound resounded throughout the vehicle.  Out of the corner of her eye, she caught him reach forward to open the door.  She hit the button again. 

Pulling the handle, Rob found the door locked once more.  Jerking his hand a few times, he glared.  “Seriously.  Do you want food or not?”

Giving in, Addison unlocked the door and waited for him to climb in. 

“Where to, Buzz?” She smirked.

“Infinity and beyond!” he smartly replied before waving her to take a right out of the parking lot. 

###

They successfully managed to get downtown and to the parking lot near the bar Rob had chosen.  Addison managed to get lost three times when trying to find a place to park.  By the time she stepped out of the truck, she was so turned around that she didn’t remember where east was, and she certainly had no idea what direction the bar was.  Taking the stairs down to the ground level of the parking garage, she shoved her hands in her jacket and waited for Rob to lead the way.

He took a left and started toward the stoplight.  Addison dutifully followed and looked at her feet.  She always looked at her feet when she walked.  Her mother told her once to stop staring at her toes.  She mentioned something about it being a sign of weakness and dependence.  Her mother always told her that when a woman looks at her feet, she was asking for a man to come and take care of her.  That she lacked confidence in herself.  That she was not strong. 

Her mother’s comment bothered Addison at the time.  She could remember walking around for days with her head straight up and staring out into the world in attempt to correct the wrong.  The new stance was supposed to give her a new perspective.  All it gave her were bruises on her shins and thighs from stumbling into stationary objects. 

Shaking the memory, she took a quick step to catch up to Rob.  Addison joined him as they moved through the crosswalk. 

“Hey, did Mom ever tell you to walk with your head up?”

“I’m pretty sure that she would have preferred me to be walking and not playing with my gizmos and gadgets.  I don’t think that walking ever came up in conversation.” 

They reached the other side of the street, and he turned sharply to wait for the other light to change. 

His eyes slid over to her.  “Why do you ask?”

“No reason.”

“I can hear you thinking.”  He smiled at her and started to move again.

Addison chuckled and shook her head.  “No, I don’t believe that you can.”

“Smartass.”

“It’s a nice ass.”

“I don’t—tell you what, no more talking about your ass, and I’ll even drive home tonight so you can have lots of beer.” 

Rob opened the door to the bar, and she stopped short.  They walked inside, and she slid into a booth close to the bar.   Her brother sat across from her.

“Why were you thinking about mom?”

“It was just something she said.”  Addison shook her head and scanned the menu.  She wanted a good draught.

“Show me?”

“In a minute, I want to order alcohol first.” 

She didn’t have to glance at him to know that he would agree to her terms.  He always enjoyed seeing memories of their mother.  She died when he was six, and so he had very limited recollections of her and of the family together as a whole.  Rob only possessed one memory of their sister that Addison hadn’t shared with him, and the recollection was not one he liked to think about.

The waitress came over, took their drink orders, and left.  Addison, about to speak, caught her brother’s line of sight.  He stopped paying any further attention to her.  Turning her head, she saw a young, dark haired man with curls brushing into his eyes.  Next to him walked a raven haired woman with tight curves and dark colored jeans.  Addison licked her lips and turned back to her brother.  The shivers that ran through her body were unexpected but welcome.  This woman had far more effect on Addison than June did.

Rob stared. His eyes remained glued to the woman as she sauntered by and picked a spot at the bar. 

“She’s cute,” Rob whispered.

“Yeah?  You think?”  Addison leaned back into the plastic cushion and grinned.  “You’re smitten.”

“I am not.”  Rob’s cheeks burned a flaming red, and he ducked his chin to avoid looking at his sister. 

Addison burst out laughing. 

“You so totally are.  You liiike her, you really liiike her.”  She started to sing it at him as their beers were brought over and set down.  “You’re adorable when you’re smitten, Rob.  Really, you should let it happen more often.”

“Shut up,” he whined and took a long swig of his beer, sighing into the flavor.  Indicating the beer, he nodded to her.  “It’s good, you’ll like it.”

She followed suit and took a small gulp.  A bitter taste, yet ripe with flavor: the hops kicked in after she swallowed.  A moment longer and the flavor and bite of the hops were overpowered by the sweet tang of almonds. 

“It’s interesting, I’ll give you that.” 

She wrinkled her nose and took another sip.  “Not sure if I like it enough to have it again, though.” 

Setting the glass down, she picked up the menu.  She wanted food.

“Besides, she came in with someone.”

“No, she didn’t,” Addison responded without looking at him.

“Yeah, she did.” 

Rob craned his neck to look at the bar where the young woman and the man were seated. 

“See, right there.”  He pointed and twisted back to Addison.

She took another long drink and rested, waiting for the torture to begin.  She had a perfect view of the woman, unlike Rob who had to turn around.  Addison could see each interaction between her and the gentleman with her.  She observed carefully and started to compile information to back up her assumption.

“What is it you like about her?”

“She’s hot?  Is that not enough?”

Addison rolled her eyes.  “What makes her ‘hot’?”

He hummed. 

She knew she was in for a long answer. 

Starting, he smiled at her.  “The way she holds herself.  She’s confident.  She has an air of ‘I’ll kick your ass if you don’t know what’s good for you’ and ‘come hither’.”

“Come hither?”

“Yup.”  Rob gave her a smug grin and took a long sip of his beer.  “This is really good beer.” 

The waitress took that moment to come over and take their order.  Addison asked for a burger and shook her head when Rob ordered the same without any of the fixings.  He was such a child sometimes. He didn’t wait more than two seconds after the skinny woman left before leaning over the table.  His elbows were pressed into the sticky and well-polished wood, his fingers interlocked. 

His eyes were bright when he asked, “Well?”

“Well, what?”  She took a long sip, knowing exactly what he wanted.

“Are you going to show me?  You said you would show me.  I want to see.”

“I know.” 

Her eyes crinkled into a smile, and she set the pint down.  Grabbing hold of his two hands, Addison brushed her thumbs over his knuckles. 

“Come a bit closer, you know how this works.” 

Rob leaned in, and she lifted her right hand.  Cupping his chin, she laid a finger along his jaw line, her pointer finger at the back of his ear, and her thumb just under his eye. 

“Ready?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, here we go.” 

She nodded sharply and closed her eyes.  Addison focused only on the memory that she wanted to share with him.  Bringing down all of her other barriers, she breathed deeply.  She listened for the sound of her mother’s voice.  The familiar timber always hit her first: deep and gravelly.  She’d smoked one too many cigars in the sixties.  Addison grew so fond of her mother’s voice. 

_“Addison!  Addy-girl!  I’m talking to you.”_

_Addison looked up from where she walked down the long hallway.  Her mom towered over her; the rich brown hair clung to her neck and back, stopping just above her shoulders.  The strands were feathered.  Addison remembered her mother coming home from the salon and running her fingers through the hair for hours.  She sat in the old rocking chair in her parents’ room, gently gliding back and forth, her tiny hands fiddling with the fresh cut ends._

_“Addison.  Addy-girl!”  She said it like a lullaby.  A soft and sweet sing-song tune that Addison would never forget.  “Addy-girl, why are you walking like that?”_

_Addison looked up and saw the shorter hair her mother boasted, her rich green eyes sparkling with curiously.  She thought beauty radiated from her mother then, and she thought it now.  She admired the strength and independence that she boasted.  She held every aspect in her personality, and it shown through in the way she moved._

_“Addy-girl, why are you walking like that?”  Her voice, deep and concerned broke through Addison’s reverie._

_Her eyes flicked up again, and she cocked her head to the side as she stared at her mother._

_“Really, why are you walking like that?”_

_“I dunno,” Addison replied and shook her head._

_“’Cause it’s the way I walk?” she asked even though it was not a question._

_Thoroughly confused by what her mother said, Addison bided her time.  “Why?  What’s wrong with the way I walk?”_

_Her mother burst into a full bodied laugh.  The laughter in her chest moved throughout her form, and she held onto the wall to stay upright.  Addison stared as she watched her mother continue to giggle._

_“Oh, Addy-girl, nothing is wrong with the way you walk.”_

_“Nothing is wrong with it?” Addison watched as her mother reached out and brushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear._

_“Nope, nothing is wrong with it.  Just a lot of people look more deeply into things than they should.”_

_Her mother brushed the wrinkle out from the center of Addison’s forehead.  She creased her brow further until her mother chuckled and stepped back._

_“Some people think that others who look at their feet while walking are not confident in who they are.”_

_“I know who I am.”_

_“Of course you do, Addy-girl.  You are one of the most passionate people that I know.  But come now, you have to see how it is possible that some people will see looking down at your toes as not being confident.  Why look down and not show yourself to the rest of the world?  Why not stare boldly at what is happening?”_

_A moment of silence took over them.  Addison glanced away from her mother’s deep blue eyes and looked at the painting in the hallway.  She had walked by it a million plus times, but she had never truly seen it.  Tiny dots made up the entire picture.  Small flowers and big flowers graced the canvas in a cacophony of color.  The image made her want to weep._

_She cleared her eyes and looked back at her mother.  “What if I stumble and fall?  What if I’m as ugly as that painting?”_

_Her mother scoffed.  “What if you stumble and fall? Then you stand back up.  I have never known you to be one to stumble and then stay on the ground.  You, Addy-girl, are always the first one back up.  I know this, your father knows this, and almost everyone here knows this about you.  But the people out there, they don’t know it.”_

_Her finger pointed toward the window on the opposite wall.  Addison followed its path._

_“It’s the people at there, Addy-girl, who are ugly.  They don’t understand your beauty and gift.”_

_Her mother was absolutely correct.  She bit her lip and looked at the beautiful woman across from her.  “What if I teach them that I’m beautiful and confident?”_

_“You can teach it to them.  I’m sure you will, but why not show it to them first, and show it to them in how you walk.”_

_Addison bit her lip.  She was mulling over the words, wanting to agree and yet wanting to disagree._

_“All right then,” she finally said.  “How do I walk so that they know who I am?”_

_“Like this.”_

_She straightened her back and put her hands down to her sides.  Her head faced forward with her chin up, and she prepared to move.  Giving her daughter one more quick glance, she took a step.  Addison watched as her mother strutted down the rest of the hallway.  When she reached the stairs, she started giggling again. The sound echoed off the halls._   _She pushed headed down the stairs and away from her daughter._

Addison pulled away from her brother, breaking their connection just as the food arrived.  She leaned against the seat, her eyes heavy with weariness.  She gripped a sweet potato fry and shoved it into her mouth.  “She was always doing that.”

“Doing what?”  Rob asked back and smiled at his sister.  “Laughing at you?”

“She wasn’t laughing at me, she was laughing at life.  She always found life, rules, general politics of conversation amusing.  She made fun of them.  Social rules and norms were everything that she hated and opposed in life.” 

Her brother stared at her curiously.

“No, she was always making sure that I held myself high.  That I had standards to reach for.  She wanted me to be strong. She wanted us to be strong and to know exactly who we are.  That’s what she was always doing, reminding me of that.”

Silence ended the conversation.  Addison let it linger as she took another bite of the fry before sipping from her drink. 

Her eyes skimmed over to the woman at the bar, and she smirked.  “And she’s not your type.”

“What?” 

Rob did a double take from checking his burger for added vegetables.  He glared at Addison. 

“Who’s not my type?”

“The girl that came in with the guy.”

“What do you mean she’s not my type?  She’s totally my type.” 

He turned to look at her again, her ass hanging off the bar stool as she leaned and gripped her own pint. 

“Totally, one hundred percent, my type.”

“Okay, maybe I should rephrase that, you’re not her type.”

His nose wrinkled and his brow dropped.  He became frustrated with her.  She was being cryptic, and they both knew it.  Rob was about to give in and beg her for an explanation.

Addison started to laugh.  Her eyes narrowed on him as she leaned over conspiratorially. 

“You, Rob, are not her type.  Let’s just say that I’m more her type than you are.”

“Huh—ohhh.  Now I get it.” 

His body went from tense with teasing to deflated with defeat. 

“Damn.”

“Yeah.”

“You should go talk to her.”  His demeanor flipped.  No longer defeated, he had a new mission.

“No.”

“Addy.”  He cooed it to her like a child.  He wanted her to go over there, she knew that.  But no way was she up for it.

“No.”

“All right, we’ll discuss it at a later time, meaning in a few minutes.” 

He picked up his burger and took a large bite, dripping the mustard over the edge of the meat and onto his shirt.

Addison, who had sliced her burger in half, delicately lifted it to her lips. 

“We will not.” 

She took a bite and ended the conversation, knowing their night was far from over.  Something about the woman had enticed Rob.   She didn’t see him letting the conversation drop as easily as it let it.  Glancing back over to the bar, she sighed.  The woman didn’t go for men.  That much, Addison knew.  They locked eyes for a quick moment, and she blushed.  Turning to face her brother again, she tried to ignore the feeling of the woman continuing to watch her.

 


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Three

With dinner finished and the night closing in, their time at the bar was close to ending. Addison, tipsy from the six beers her brother had bought her, could not stop laughing. He recounted her memories of their mother and thanked her profusely. He took the last sip of his third beer as he set it down and gave his sister a straight look. 

“I don’t remember her laughing, you know.”

“You don’t remember who laughing?” 

She giggled, but her face became serious as soon as she looked at him. 

“You don’t remember Mom laughing? At all?”

Rob shook his head.

“She did it all the time. It’s one of the many things I loved. But there was a time when she didn’t laugh—after Laura. No one laughed then.” 

She set her own drink down and watched him carefully. The unspoken words were enough; Rob knew exactly what Addison referred to. 

Swallowing, Addison added, “It passed as time went on. As it always does.” 

Tears sprang into her eyes, and she shook her head to try and be rid of them. 

“I know.” 

He looked at her and smirked. She smiled back free of the sadness that quickly took over their conversation. Rob glanced back over to the bar. He had made a horrible habit of looking over every thirty minutes or so to see if the curvy raven-haired woman was still seated. Her friend, he assumed, had left a few minutes before, and he wanted to know if she was alone. 

“I have an idea,” Rob started.

“No, you do not,” she responded, gritting her teeth.

“I do.”

“Rob!” 

She was too late. He swiveled out of his seat and headed to where the woman sat. Addison’s face started to burn, and she couldn’t help the embarrassment that took over. Her heart started to pound, first in her chest and then it moved into her throat when Rob turned and pointed to her. Addison’s cheeks flamed red and a sudden heat came about them. She couldn’t control her embarrassment, which only embarrassed her more. The woman turned and gave her a look—appraisal. She gave Addison a once over, and her stomach dropped. She hadn’t been looked at that way since well before the jackass proposed. 

She gave a small wave back upon prompting from her brother. She took a long swig of her beer to try and calm her demeanor. She sincerely hoped that the amount of alcohol in her system would give her a smooth and composed persona. However, knowing her, she doubted that would happen. Addison practically choked on her beer when the woman took Rob’s proffered hand and rose off the barstool. Her mind screamed and yelled at her, and she closed her eyes. 

Focusing on her brother, she spoke so only he could hear, the words flitting around his mind. “I hate you.”

“This is James. She said her friend ditched her for a date, so I thought she could join us.” 

Rob sat in the seat he previously occupied and left James to sit either by him or by Addison. Addison knew the tactic from him: a test for James to determine which team the woman swung for. Sure enough, James slid into the booth next to Addison. Their thighs touched under the table as they each got comfortable. Addison felt small tingles race from where they touched, the warmth began and went straight into her stomach. She ignored it and glared at Rob. 

“You’re an ass,” she whispered it in his mind.

He smiled at her and turned to James. “We were just talking about families. Kind of.”

“Ah.” James bobbed her head up and down, taking a long drag from her beer. 

She didn’t seem very interested in the conversation, and Addison risked a glance to her brother.

Grasping for a topic of conversation, Addison tried the only one she could think of. “I just moved here, so we thought we’d check out the local places.” 

She reached for the water that the waitress had kindly brought her. Sucking on the straw, she savored the cold water as it slid through her burning mouth and throat. Embarrassment still raged through her body. 

James twisted so she could face the other woman. Her eyes skimmed over Addison’s body again, and her cheeks blushed further. She was definitely being checked out. 

“Well, this is a great place to come. It’s one of my favorites.” James finished off her beer and nodded to the waitress to bring her another. “I come here a lot with my friend, Max.”

Rob raised his eyebrows at Addison and mouthed the gentleman’s name. Addison shook her head at Rob and turned back to James. 

“That sounds cool. I start my new job soon, so I doubt I’ll have much time to go out. Not to mention, my brother will be kindly disappearing tomorrow. No longer at my beck and call to buy me beer.” 

She lifted her pint and nodded it toward him in a mock toast. 

“Starting a new job is always interesting.” 

James’ voice gently lilted, and Addison strained over the other patrons to hear what she said. The combination seemed odd, a voice so mild coming from a woman who screamed physical assertiveness. Mentally shrugging, Addison turned back to what James was saying. She shifted in her seat and brushed against the woman again. Her heart started to pound, and her palms began to sweat. She wiped her hands on her jeans, leaving them there. Closing her eyes, Addison reached for her water glass again to wet her parched tongue. As she took a drink, she felt cool fingers slip into hers and squeeze tightly. 

Addison coughed and sputtered.

She reached for her napkin to press it over her lips. Rob gave her a funny look, which she ignored, and James rubbed a hand along her back.

“Deep breaths.”

“Uh huh.” 

Addison coughed a few more times before setting her napkin down. Her hand rested on the table a moment too long, and James’ eyes caught the scratches. 

The woman picked up Addison’s hand and studied the wound. 

“What did you do?”

Addison licked her lips and swallowed. “I scraped it.”

“On what?” 

Addison had really hoped to avoid that conversation. When James’ beer arrived, Addison thought she had her out. She tried to pull her hand from James’ and was surprised by the tightened grip. 

“Hey, Caty?” James turned to the waitress.

“Yeah?”

“Can you bring me the first aid kit?” 

James studied Addison’s palm. 

“What’d you scrape it on?”

“Asphalt,” Addison mumbled, hoping James wouldn’t hear her. 

Rob remained silent across from them. He had a large grin on his face filled with satisfaction. He really could be quite an ass when he wanted to be. 

“I tripped on the stairs, took them too fast, and they are really steep.”

James hummed.

Becoming curious, Addison inquired, “Why?”

“You have dirt in it.” 

James took her forefinger and scraped her nail along the skin, picking out a few shards of gravel that Addison had missed.

Caty brought back the first aid kit, and James dug into it. She grasped three alcohol packets and antibiotic cream. Brushing her fingers once more over Addison’s injury, she cleaned it until satisfied with water and gauze. Ripping open the alcohol packet, she glanced to Addison. 

“This might hurt.”

“Hopefully the beer will cover the pain up.”

James shrugged and pressed the damp gauze to Addison’s hand. She winced and tried to ignore the pain. Tears jumped into her eyes, and she tensed the muscles up her arm and into her shoulder. She hissed as James brushed the swab harder against the skin, making sure that the wound was completely clean. It needed to be done, and Addison had planned on doing just that when she got home. The cleaning could have waited, but this woman apparently took sadistic pleasure in causing her undue pain. Turning toward her brother, Addison looked at him, begging him to make it stop. 

She felt a calming sensation flow through her body. Addison shook her head at it, surprised. The unexpected sensation confused her, and she couldn’t figure out where it came   
from. It could have easily been her brother, but usually he needed touch in order to send emotions or “feels” as he called them. His gift wasn’t nearly as strong as hers, and he couldn’t only give her small amounts of comfort. This sensation was far more powerful than what Rob could give her. She glanced over to him before wincing and making a squeaking noise in the back of her throat. Sniffing to hide the tears, Addison relaxed her fingers as James started to brush in the antibiotic cream. The ointment was cool on her skin compared to the burning sensation that the alcohol swab gave her. 

Shaking her head, Addison withdrew her hand as soon as possible. 

“She scraped her knee up, too!” 

“Rob!”

“Did you? Let me see.” James scooted as far away from Addison as possible in order to see the injury. 

Addison rolled her eyes and started to pull up her pant leg. 

“I feel like a three-year-old who has a ton of boo-boos that need mommy’s special kiss,” she said sarcastically, not expecting a response from James. 

So when the woman spoke up, she had to sit there for a moment with her mouth agape.

“Well, I can give it a kiss, but I can’t guarantee that it’ll be special. And it’s certainly not a special mommy kiss.”

Licking her lips, Addison turned to her brother looking for help. The sudden sting of alcohol brought her back to James. She didn’t know exactly what was happening, but two more alcohol swabs were opened and the dried blood on her skin disappeared.

James cleaned up her mess, stepping over to the bar and the trash bin. She deposited the waste and slid back into the booth. 

“Better?”

“Much, thank you.” Addison’s voice turned husky. Her eyes lingered on James’ face. “Your eyes are so beautiful. There are so many hues in them.”

James took a moment before answering. “Thanks, I kind of hear that a lot, but usually it’s just shock at the color.”

“It took me a bit to figure out if they were contacts or not.” 

Addison rested her hands in her lap and stared at James, still studying the strange eye color. 

“They’re honeyed, but they’re more yellow than that. And there this this brown and green, a very light green, around the middle. Really, they’re quite stunning.” 

Addison smiled and blushed when she realized she had suddenly become completely entranced with James’ eyes. She turned her chin down to her chest and reached for her glass of water with her uninjured hand, not daring to test James. She didn’t want to find out if the woman was a secret Nurse Ratchet or not. 

“Thank you, again.” James smiled sweetly, and Addison detected a hint of a blush creep over her skin. 

Humming, Addison turned back to Rob. He eyed her suspiciously. She gave him a funny look, and Rob stood up. She watched warily. He brushed his hands over his pants before pointing his thumbs back toward the restrooms. 

“I’ll be right back.”

“Okay.” 

Addison shook her head, but he left anyway. Her silent plea disregarded. Addison turned back to James, who still sat very close to her. She looked her in the eye and then flicked her gaze down to her lips. Biting her own lip, she debated. What harm could it do? Reaching up, she cupped James’ cheek and leaned forward. 

Their lips touched.

James listed forward, and her hand found its way to Addison’s hip. She squeezed lightly and closed her eyes. As soon as Addison saw the yellow eyes close, she followed and closed her own. Breathing deeply, Addison slid forward. Her fingers curled into the hair at the back of James’ neck, and her lips parted. The kiss wasn’t slow, and it wasn’t fast. Their embrace was exactly what it should have been. Full of lust, desire, and a need for instant gratification.

Addison’s tongue darted out and brushed along James’ lips. She tasted sweet, like warmed honey on a hot summer’s day. She scraped her nails along James’ scalp and drew in a deep breath. She was about to dive. She didn’t get the chance. James gripped her hip and tugged, pulling Addison until she was close to being in James’ lap. 

Their lips broke apart, and James whispered harshly, “Not here.” 

Lacing their fingers together, James nodded to the bartender and dragged Addison out the front door.

“My brother.”

“Left you a text.”

Addison stopped short and forced James to swing back around. 

“What?” 

She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. Sure enough, a brief text message appeared from her brother, stating that he went back to the apartment and would see her in the morning before he left. 

“That’s—how did you know?”

“I saw it come in, when it was on the table. He sent it about five minutes ago before he went to the loo. I guess he anticipated something happening.”

“The asshole!” Addison raised her voice. “What a freakin’ lunatic!” 

She started to stalk away, her mind going through the different ways that she could get home, if she could even remember how to get home from the bar. With the six beers still roiling through her system, she very much doubted that she would be able to find the bread crumbs back to her apartment complex. 

She made it half a block when she was pushed forward faster than she thought she should be walking. She turned around and was pushed into the wall. Her back landed against the brick and a very warm body pressed against hers. James’ face entered her vision. The woman smiled, her lashes lowered seductively.

“I don’t do this often, but I’m willing to do it now. You seemed amenable inside—is that still the case?” James whispered into Addison’s ear, her hands tightly wound against Addison’s hips. 

Addison couldn’t breathe. Air caught in her throat, heat burned in her cheeks and chest. She felt the world spin faster and faster. She couldn’t get her footing. She stuttered, trying to find words to give as an answer. James nipped lightly just under her ear and at the top of her neck. Addison groaned and went weak in her knees. She hummed, and her hands ran over James’ back. 

“I haven’t…” she started to speak, but broke off when James’ smart tongue swirled in circles against her collar bone. She should have zipped her jacket. 

“I haven’t been with a woman…” she started again, but was cut off.

“You haven’t been with a woman?” James stepped back, her cheeks pressed with the color of rose petals, the blush unbecoming. 

“No, I’ve been with a woman,” Addison whispered harshly, her voice carrying further than she expected it to. “I just haven’t been with a woman in quite some time.” 

Folding her arms over her chest, Addison pouted.

“Ah.”

“Ah?”

“Yup.” James smirked before her lips moved back to Addison’s neck. 

Addison had a chance to look around where they stood. She realized that they were in the back alley behind the bar. 

“I didn’t pay my tab.”

“It’s on mine. I pay at the end of the month,” she mumbled the words into the skin. Her breath tickled Addison.

“That close with this place?”

“Uh huh.” 

James nipped low on Addison’s neck. Addison’s back left the wall, and she pushed out into James. 

“Here?” Addison said the word on a breath.

James backed away slightly. “What?”

“You want to do this here? Because I think here would be a bad place to do this.”

“Right.” 

James gripped Addison’s hand and stared at her. 

“I like your eyes—they’re like Christmas trees, all green and shit.”

The random and awkward comment forced a giggle and a snort from Addison. She had never heard anyone be so awkward and off-kilter when trying to hook-up with someone against an alley wall. Not that she made a habit of being seduced in alleys, but she wasn’t going to say no this time around. 

“Thanks, so where are we going?”

“Truck.” James gave another one word answer. 

Addison wondered James had a reason or if she couldn’t think straight.

“Where is your truck?”

James gripped Addison’s hand firmly and started to walk. 

“This way.” 

Dragging the woman down the block, James moved. Once again, Addison lost track of where they were going. She knew that they were going in the opposite direction that she had come from, but it didn’t matter. They weren’t heading to her truck. They arrived at the vehicle, and James gave in, pressing Addison against the tail gate once more covering her body. This time she stayed away from Addison’s neck and went straight for the woman’s lips. 

They were in a completely empty parking garage, and Addison couldn’t help herself. She reached behind and gripped James’ ass, gently but firmly tugging her further into her body. Desire burned through her body in a way she hadn’t felt in a long time. Focusing only on the sensation, she nipped on James’ lower lip. 

“Here is better than the alley?”

“No, it is not.” 

James kissed her once more before fishing in her pocket for keys. She fiddled with the button. 

The blaring from the alarm scared both of them. Addison’s back went ramrod straight, and her eyes went wide. James shook as she searched for the button to turn the car alarm off. Once the sound stopped echoing through the garage and through their ears, James turned to Addison. Her cheeks painted fire engine red contrasted sharply from her normally pale skin. 

“Oops.”

“Damn right oops.” 

Addison burst out laughing and took a step away from the truck, still being close enough to James to reach out and grip her arm lightly. Squeezing, she subsided her inane giggling to allow for proper speech. 

“We all do it—it’s fine.”

“Uh huh.” James unlocked the vehicle and pointed to the other side. “Get in.”

“Yes ma’am.” Addison’s eyes crinkled at the corners as she rounded the back of the truck. 

The car ride remained quiet, and Addison watched as the streets passed in the dark of night. Everything looked so different at night, especially in this town. There were very few streetlights, and the sky looked far blacker that Addison remembered it ever being. Even in Wyoming the sky never contained such a void of light.

“The stars are pretty.”

“Yeah, you can see a lot of them from out here. You from the city?” 

James took a right and pulled into a driveway.

“For the last part of my life, yes. A big city.” 

Addison pushed open the door and stepped out of the vehicle. She took a deep breath filled with clean air and the smell of smoke. Someone must have had a fireplace nearby, or at least a pit in their back yard. The glorious scent relaxed her, and Addison savored it as much as she could. It reminded her of home, and when she and Norma had first been together. She watched as James came around her truck and started for the side door to the house. Addison followed quietly, not daring to comment. Nerves pounded through her system with each step she took. One night stands were not her norm. She had a woman back home who she slept with on occasion, when it suited both of them, but one night stands were far different.

Moving her hands around her pockets and tightening the material against her body in a nervous gesture, Addison stepped into the foreign house. Anxiety started to take over. This woman was a complete stranger. Yet, she was being pulled in. The door closed neatly behind her, and James turned to sling her keys onto a hook. Addison unzipped her jacket as James did the same. 

They laid them over the back of one of the chairs to the dining room table. Addison drew in a deep breath. She thought about backing out; that she needed to leave and not begin what might be a terrible mistake. Her hands trembled as she smoothed the material of her jacket over the chair back. James caught the move.

“You don’t have to be nervous, you know. But if you don’t want to stay the night, it’s not like I’m going to force you to. I can always drive you home.”

Addison bit her lip and turned her head down to the ground. Her mother’s words echoed through her mind. 

“Addy-girl, what are you walking like that?” 

Licking her lips, Addison’s greens eyes flicked to stare at James. She shook her head and took a step forward. She had to be confident. She needed to show James how she felt and what she wanted.

James didn’t move.

Taking another step, Addison stood right in front of the exotic looking woman. Yellow eyes, dark hair, and pale, pale skin. 

“No, I started this, and I think I’d like to finish it.” 

While she spoke, she gripped James’ hand and brushed her thumb sweetly over the knuckles. Her mind searched through James for any ill or dangerous thoughts. All she encountered were surprise and pure desire. Giving up her search, Addison leaned up on her toes and planted a kiss on James’ lips. 

“Unless you would rather drive me home.” 

She nibbled on James’ lower lip, pulling it between her teeth gently. 

“Not a chance,” James whispered through a smile. 

Her fingers curled into Addison’s waist, and she kneaded the skin gently, the cotton warm in comparison to James’ cold hands. Addison ignored it. She turned and walked backward toward the hallway, assuming the bedroom was in that direction. James shed her shoes as she ambled forward, toeing out of the footwear with two steps until she was only in her socks. Addison copied the move and accidently caused James to trip over one of her own shoes. 

Addison found herself once again pressed into a wall, her back to the plaster, and her front covered by James’ body. She started to think for a second that James tripping might have been planned. The position was certainly one that the woman seemed to enjoy. James tugged her shirt up and over her head, catching the material on her chin. She had to lift a hand to help James get the cotton off. The fabric fluttered to the ground. Both women watched the material as it floated down, time suspending in short bursts.

When Addison turned back to face James, she expected the moments from then on to be rushed. As if nothing they could do would make time go faster. She wanted everything to go faster. Instead, James took two fingers and traced them over Addison’s body. Goose bumps rose on her skin, and she closed her eyes.

“What’s your name?”

Addison hummed, lost in the moment.

“I asked what your name was.” 

James stopped her movement and raised Addison’s chin upright. 

“Rob never properly introduced us. I only know that you’re his sister.”

She swallowed hard. James’ yellow eyes were startling when they were close. 

“Addy,” she said back.

James repeated the name out loud, the consonants rolling off her tongue. Giving in, she bent down and latched her mouth once again to Addison’s neck, breathing her name out every second that she got. She started to spin around with James, their feet missing each other by mere centimeters as they moved. Addison could only except go along, James leading her through each and every move.

Tumbling backward, Addison landed on a soft bed. Her body bounced up before she crawled further back so she was no longer in fear of falling off the edge. Not waiting for James, she started to shimmy out of her pants, her eyes straining to watch as James did the same. The sight before her gloriously depicted what she loved about women. Watching a woman undress always entranced Addison. The clothes were simply removed in the quickest way possible with the least amount of damage or confusion possible. Trying to pull off a t-shirt without turning it inside out made for putting it on easier when laundry couldn’t be done. Sliding out of jeans and not pulling up the edge of the pants in order to make it only one quick shake before they could be worn again. James did it all, and Addison observed carefully. The clothes were tossed into the corner, and James’ yellow eyes turned on her. 

Addison’s breath lodged in her throat.

She couldn’t bring more air into her chest, the beauty of the woman before her left her stunned. She smiled when James pulled air tightly between her teeth and made a loud noise by popping her lips together. Addison realized that she was blushing. Holding out her hand, Addison beckoned the woman to join her.


End file.
